Science and Faith Symposium in Prince George BC Canada

I will be speaking at the Science and Faith Symposium in Prince George BC Canada on the topic: Creation vs Evolution: 4 views.

This event will be held on Sunday evening, June 7th from 7-9 pm at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Prince George, BC Canada. Please see OSLC’s website for details or contact information. The cost for the event is free, and I’ll be joined by two other speakers, Art Betke on Limits to Evolution, and John MacDonell on Evolution Revolution.

The primary purpose for this event is to get people discussing this important topic. The speakers will present an overview of the various positions, discuss how to think about such topics in a clear and compassionate manner, and present opposing views on the subject (i.e.: one creationist point of view and one evolutionist point of view).

If you are in or around the Prince George, BC, Canada area, TilledSoil.org encourages you to attend, as we’ve been promoting this topic as an important subject to discuss in our churches. Often, because the issue can be divisive, it is avoided. We don’t believe ‘sweeping disagreement under the rug’ is healthy in any kind of relationship, let alone the church body or the relationship between church and culture.

The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design by Richard Dawkins | on Amazon.ca
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins | on Amazon.ca

My Journey (quotes and info)

“Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, p4
– so, maybe the appearance of having been designed for a purpose is evidence it has been?

What direction is the research moving?
Who is actually holding up science?
Does the person who is correct need to suppress other views?

Vestiges of evolution…

Scopes trial in 1925, argument was given that there were over 180 vestigial organs and structures in the human body. Now, scientists are wary of talking about vestigial organs at all. (ex: tonsils, tail-bone, thyroid, appendix.)

“What pseudogenes are useful for is embarrassing creationists. It stretches even their creative ingenuity to make up a convincing reason why an intelligent designer should have created a pseudogene – a gene that does absolutely nothing and gives every appearance of being a superannuated version of a gene that used to do something — unless he was deliberately setting out to fool us.
…
Leaving pseudogenes aside, it is a remarkable fact that the greater part (95 percent in the case of humans) of the genome might as well not be there, for all the difference it makes.”
Dawkins 2009 book The Greatest Show on Earth

“Even more compelling evidence for a common ancestor comes from the study of what is known as ancient repetitive elements (AREs). … Mammalian genomes are littered with such AREs, with roughly 45% of the human genome made up of such genetic flotsam and jetsam. … Of course, some might argue that there are actually functional elements placed there by the Creator for a good reason, and our discounting them as ‘junk DNA’ just betrays our current level of ignorance.”
Francis Collins, The Language of God, p135-136

The result:
“Although very catchy, the term ‘junk DNA’ repelled mainstream researchers from studying noncoding genetic material for many years. After all, who would like to dig through genomic garbage? Thankfully, though, there are some clochards who, at the risk of being ridiculed, explore unpopular territories.”Scientific American “What is junk DNA, and what is it worth?”

OEC models predicted function would be found, and just a couple years later, ENCODE project showed over 80% function and growing.

YEC to OEC, but stopped before TE (my path)

when I was growing up, YEC was the ‘official’ position of my church

began to get pushed on this when starting in apologetics discussion

discovered Hugh Ross’ ministry and found it very compelling

was heavily encouraged to switch to Theistic Evolution in seminary

but, I found the arguments of RtB and ID folks more compelling

and, was really disappointed that, at the time, the TE camp hadn’t done their theology!

While I respect science, I’m not bothered by disagreeing with the current neo-Darwinian consensus.

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About the Author

Steve loves getting people excited about Christian apologetics (case-making); seeing the beauty and rationality of Christianity and the Christian worldview. He is a husband, father, and long-time tech geek. Steve is director/educator at TilledSoil.org and also a designer/consultant at cgWerks. He holds a MA in Theology (Interdisciplinary – Christianity, Church & Culture) from Regent College in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. You can follow Steve on Twitter @TilledSoil, connect with him/TilledSoil.org on Facebook, or catch up with him on Google+.